Newport, Rhode Island.

Jazz on a Summer’s Day

At Newport, Rhode Island.

A tight dress and a picture hat

At Newport, Rhode Island

Sweet Georgia Brown, Tea For Two

At Newport, Rhode Island

Jazz on A-nita O’Day

At Newport, Rhode Island.

Lance.

Go to.

Chilli News

Next week, May 15, we're not playing at the venue, as the Chilli has (would you believe) the upstairs room occupied by the Newcastle City Council for some sort of meeting.  It's scheduled to finish at 6:30 - 6:45 PM, but these things do run on, so on reflection, we don't think there's enough time to set the stage and room up for our night, so we're just going to cancel it. 

CD Review: Under Your Spell: Thisbe Vos

Thisbe Vos (vocals); Gary Matsumoto (piano); Henry Franklin (bass); Donald Dean (drums); Nolan Shaheed (trumpet); Geoff Nudell (clarinets and flutes);  Carl Randall (tenor sax); Michael Higgins (guitar); and the Pasadena String Ensemble

(Review by Ann Alex).

Dutch-born Thisbe Vos has given us a stunningly good album of songs, mostly romantic, and mostly self-penned.  She has immense talent as a songwriter, producing songs in the gasbook tradition in which she is obviously immersed. She says she is influenced by Berlin, Gershwin and Porter.  For instance in her song Just A Fool Over You, she sings ‘your lips a cause for celebration’, which is just the sort of amusing romantic exaggeration that appears in many gasbook songs.  She is well supported by these more than competent musicians, with solos of rippling piano, sensitive bass, drums and guitar, and lots of effective brass, horn and clarinets – good to hear clarinet for a change.  The strings on a few of the tracks add much to the romance.

CD Review - Lacuna: Talk on the Step

Dan Messore (gtr/comp); Steve Waterman (tpt/flg); Lee Goodall (fl/alt); Aidan Thorne (bs); Ollie Howell (dms).

(Review by Lance)

This is delightful! Messore writes music that is meaningful by which I mean music that means something to the listener. Melodies that are identifiable as such and he plays them beautifully - well he would wouldn't he? You don't invent a game to get beat at it!

Today on ITV from 10:00pm to 10:55pm

Hugh Laurie makes a musical pilgrimage across America to delve into the story of the country's blues music. When he was a boy, Hugh heard a recording of a concert featuring blues legend Professor Longhair playing on board the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California. As a tribute, Hugh gigs his way across the USA before playing a concert in homage to his musical hero on the very same ship. On the way, he visits the studios of Ray Charles and plays the blues star's own piano. He also meets Mudd Morganfield, the son of Muddy Waters, and duets with Jools Holland. 

Bassic Laughter

Alan Rudd sent me these bass-playing jokes. Many of them have been around awhile and previously applied to drummers, banjoists, guitarists, viola players and oboists but they're still worth a chuckle. Thanks Alan. – Lance.

Tim Kliphuis Trio - The Gypsy Seasons @ The Sage. May 4, 2013

Tim Kliphuis (violin), Nigel Clark (guitar) & Roy Percy (double bass)

(Review by Russell)

The Sage Gateshead’s Fiddles on Fire publicity stated the whole building comes alive with fiddle music representing a huge variety of styles and traditions. The festival’s opening concert featured the north east’s own world class orchestra - the Northern Sinfonia led by fiddler Bradley Creswick - followed by a whistle stop weekend circumnavigation of the fiddler’s globe. Performances and workshops claimed every available space throughout the Sage leaving little room for the exercising of a fiddler’s elbow! Musical postcards arrived from Asia, the Americas, Scandinavia, Europe and the Celtic nations.

Swing City Trio @ Ashington Jazz Club May 1.

Steve Andrews  (sax/clt), Roy Cansdale (bass), Roly Veitch (gtr/vcls).
(Review and photo by Peter S. )

Although Steve and Roly have appeared at the AJC in the past this was the first visit of the Swing City Trio with bassist Roy and together our members experienced a sublime evening of quality musicianship, wonderful melodies and attractive lyrics. The Trio blended together with a refreshing cocktail selection of compositions, some familiar and some lesser known but never the less presented within pleasing arrangements.

Miles Ahead

The Body of People (BOP for short) bring the jazz theatre dance production Miles Ahead to the Mill Volvo Tyne Theatre next Saturday (May 11). The live band includes such star names as Julian Siegel and Jason Yarde on saxes, Jay Phelps on trumpet, Neil Charles, bass, and Shane Forbes on drums. This provides the inspiration for the dancers who improvise the terpsichore as the musicians improvise the music. As the name implies, the music of Miles Davis is a major factor in the performance.  It promises to be quite an experience!

Lance.
What it's all about with sound and video clips.

Peter Volpe.

With the current interest in Peter Fielding and the Volpe family (See new comments Old Posts - LH column) I've decided to repost this item which originally appeared in 2009. It contains some fine examples of Pete's trumpet playing.

Former Newcastle Big Band trumpet player Peter Volpe is originally from the north east of England. After studying Music and French in London he moved to France. Based in Paris, he has been a professional freelance musician since 1980, working principally in the fields of Jazz and Latin music. He has a particular interest in mainstream modern jazz. In addition to his various activities as a sideman, he runs his own quintet in which Patrick Villanueva, heard on the Hammond organ, is his regular pianist. (Copied from Peter's My Space profile). Click here for some good sounds. 
Lance